Despite the obstacles of last week, Jack infiltrates the secure detainment facility. He interrogates pilot Chris, who trusts his gut and goes with Jack as the first person who isn’t accusing him of anything. He also trusts Kate and Erik, who seem to be more willing to listen than the military.
Chloe rants at her Freaky Leaks commander, who is very mixed on whether he’s helping or hindering Jack, and does try to get her to sever ties to no avail. The ally Jack brought into their lair questions her loyalty, but recognizes her value.
The core of the episode is a hostage situation where Jack does his best to not gravely injure three computer techs who happened to be there when he took over their machines and tried to upload the flight key data. Which is encrypted so well Chloe can’t break it, requiring Jack to keep angry forces at bay for 30 minutes. Always something with flash drives, right?
Kate, meanwhile, follows her instincts and gets to listen in when President Heller makes a personal call to Jack. Chief Assface admits to Audrey and Heller that Jack is in town and he’s known about it all day, but the President can’t believe Jack is a threat and wants to know why he’s taken hostages. A bit of his old square-jawed bluster gets through (perhaps revitalized by how well his appeal to Parliament went), and it’s kind of heart-breaking how Jack’s voice changes when he finally gets the President on the line. Everything Jack has always done has been for the Presidents, except for the crazy ones.
Heller doesn’t actually believe Jack, though, which sucks because that leaves Jack with few options and no way out. Until Kate drops in from the ceiling and takes him prisoner herself, while letting him know she believes him and making the military back down.
Yes, you have earned the right to be Jack’s ally, Cuckold Kate! Also, her friend back at the CIA might have the hots for her.
Meanwhile, in the terrorist compound of Mommy Margot, things don’t go quite as expected when Navid forces Simone to choose between him and Mommy Dreadest. Simone confesses quickly, but rather than kill Navid, Margot has her henchmen start chopping off her daughter’s fingers! WTH? Cold dead eyes are not to be trifled with, Navid. She needs him to run the drones when they commandeer them, and Simone is expendable for that goal.
Yeah, you can’t unsee that, Navid. Bad boy.